On Monday night, October 3rd, and Tuesday morning, Oct. 4th, Hurricane Matthew struck the southern coast of Haiti and destroyed homes, fields, gardens, sources of clean water, bridges, cell phone and electrical service, and many hopes and dreams. In a country where life is already very hard, the situation went from difficult to desperate overnight. The village where my family previously lived was right in the middle of the onslaught and dozens of our close friends were directly affected. The village is called Ti-Riviere, which means “Little River”, and the normally small stream for which it is named became a raging torrent as something like 25-30 inches of rain fell in less than a day. Miraculously we can now happily report that no one in the village was killed or even seriously injured!
However, sometimes in the aftermath of natural disasters in a developing country like Haiti there are more deaths as disease spreads, food sources run out and are cut off from the outside, and access to health care is even worse than normal. In the region around Ti-Riviere almost 1,000 deaths have been reported already, and mass starvation is a real concern in the near future. Cholera is also regaining the ground it had lost in the last few years as new cases pop up all around. Another big concern at this point is shelter. One of our friends who lost his house said, “If I have to choose between hunger and not having a home, I would choose hunger.” Many homes were destroyed and almost all the roofs were torn off. The typical roof in Haiti is a combination of scraggly lumber holding up sheets of tin. No doubt a 140mph wind could tear that off without any trouble. Though the roofs are pretty cheap by our standards, I seriously wonder how most people will come up with the money to replace them.
We have a great chance to respond, as it says in II Cor. 8:14, “At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.” My gut reaction to that statement is to ask, “When exactly will Haiti have plenty while we are in need?” That is almost unimaginable in a material sense, and yet just last summer we all benefitted from some of the spiritual “plenty” of the Haitian people as Zacharie came and challenged us in our faith as he visited various groups at church and got to know ARC members. Now we have a chance to use a direct, personal connection we know in the heart of the Hurricane Matthew disaster to send aid in time of need, knowing it will be distributed with prayer and equity.
You have heard me talk about the difference between relief and development in missions, and those who have read “When Helping Hurts” know plenty about this subject. There are times when the best way to help people is education and other forms of long-term development, and in those cases giving away food and other necessities would not be appropriate and could lead to dependence. However, this is truly a relief situation if ever there was one. People in Haiti need immediate help to preserve their lives, and as we have learned in the past we cannot depend solely on the big, international relief organizations to get the help where it is needed. That is why we are so blessed to have Zacharie there on the ground and prepared to help people with food, medicine, and materials for rebuilding shelter.
On Sunday, October 23, we will take a special offering for Haiti, and the money will go directly to either Zacharie or Mission Haiti, which is a reputable organization in Ti-Riviere. Either way your donation will be 100% devoted to relief with nothing deducted for administrative costs. Later we will hear reports of how the money was put to work to preserve lives, and how we can help as the country transitions from immediate relief to long-term development. Thanks in advance for your generous gift, and above all else, please continue to pray for the people of Haiti during this difficult time.
(please also remember the people of North Carolina whose homes are being flooded at the moment I am writing this article)
Cory Grimm